{"id":3290,"date":"2016-08-30T22:26:36","date_gmt":"2016-08-31T02:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/?p=3290"},"modified":"2016-08-30T22:26:36","modified_gmt":"2016-08-31T02:26:36","slug":"sue-carr-adds-her-recommendations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/sue-carr-adds-her-recommendations\/","title":{"rendered":"Sue Carr Adds her Recommendations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not to ignore the current discussion about MHC\u2019s 3-year term president, or the political situation in the country\u2026I\u2019ve read so many good books recently that I couldn\u2019t resist \u2026 I had to tell you about them. So here are some suggestions for good summer reading. Coincidentally, three of them take place during the Blitz in London, which ties in with\u00a0Citizens of London<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0that was reviewed at reunion\u2026<\/p>\n

Crooked Heart<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by Lissa Evans<\/p>\n

Noel a 10-yr old orphan, lives very happily with his godmother Mattie.\u00a0\u00a0Noel is a bit odd, brainy, and has little in common with children his age.\u00a0\u00a0The two were\u00a0sympatico<\/em>\u00a0on all issues. Unfortunately, she becomes senile, wanders off and dies.<\/p>\n

Most of London\u2019s children are evacuated to the countryside as war comes closer, as is Noel. He is placed with Vera Sedge, a horse of a different color from Mattie. She is a desperate woman, who is trying to survive by any method possible.<\/p>\n

Evans paints a realistic and humorous picture of war-time Britain with its indignities, pettiness and multiple levels of dishonorable conduct. A very \u201cgood read\u201d plus much more.<\/p>\n

The War That Saved My Llife<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>by Kimberly Bradley (for older children)<\/p>\n

Ada was born with a club foot. Her mother mistreated her terribly. When word spread that London would be bombed by the Germans, and that children would be evacuated to the country, Ada realized that this was her chance to escape from an unbearable life. She talked Jamie, her younger brother, into escaping with her and they snuck onto the train, leaving London. Of course, their names were not on the list, so there was no one to pick them up. But the warden talked a very reluctant \u201cMiss Smith\u201d into taking them in.<\/p>\n

This is a wonderful story of grit and determination. You may not be interested in reading a book written for children but this is indeed a great story.<\/p>\n

Everyone Brave is Forgiven<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by Chris Cleave\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0(Cleave is the author\u00a0of Little Bee.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Although\u00a0T<\/strong>he Light We Cannot See<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>is still in first place for fiction I\u2019ve read in the last few years\u2026this comes pretty close.\u00a0Everyone Brave is Forgiven<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0covers the years from 1939 to 1942. Germany has invaded Poland. Great Britain declares war on Germany. Mary leaves her finishing school immediately for the War Office – to sign up to be a spy. Tom decides to stay put. But his roommate, Alistair, signs up. The three are thrown together, and both Tom and Alistair fall in love with Mary. Here is a heart-wrenching love story set in the midst of an over-whelming battle field.There was so much to the novel \u2013 the characterizations, the surprising racism, the different levels of society, the unknown history. But the conversations stood out for me. Cleave is relentless with his clever twists and turns.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss this one.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, I was loaned two books that couldn\u2019t be more different\u2026It Can\u2019t Happen Here<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>(1935) by Sinclair Lewis and\u00a0Sir Henry<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(1955) by Robert Nathan. The first is written as a result of the concern of a fascist take-over in Europe (1930s). As worry about bizarre things happening in our own government increase, this book is particularly appropriate. The old fashioned style turned me off and so I didn\u2019t actually read much of it, but it rang a bell. Juxtaposed with it was Nathan\u2019s\u00a0Sir Henry<\/em><\/strong>. This is so quietly humorous, I loved it. Since\u00a0A Portrait of Jenni<\/em><\/strong>e<\/em>, I\u2019ve been a Nathan fan. Sir Henry tells of the exploits of a knight-errant in England, slaying dragons, et al. A wonderful anti-dote to thinking about our world situation. It\u2019s delightful!<\/p>\n

What are you reading?<\/p>\n

Sue Wheatley Carr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not to ignore the current discussion about MHC\u2019s 3-year term president, or the political situation in the country\u2026I\u2019ve read so many good books recently that I couldn\u2019t resist \u2026 I had to tell you about them. So here are some … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25014],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-great-reads"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.alumnae.mtholyoke.edu\/1961\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}